Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

You are looking at the largest exergaming crowd on the Sands Convention Center at CES. The Sands is usually not very crowded at all, but what people who were there, were watching the Launchpad Golf Simulator for the Playstation 2.

They were playing Tiger Woods on a Playstation 2 with the Lauchpad controller. The difference between Launchpad and most other golf controllers is that you can use your own golf clubs, not some silly imaginary golf club. The only problem with it is the golf ball. It doesn’t move like a real golf ball because it connected to the controller. It’s just close enough to the real thing to throw off your game in the real world.

Of course, all the exercise of golf in the real world is walking the courses with thirty pounds of golf clubs on your back. Take away that aspect and you can barely call this exergaming. There were so few exergaming options, however, that Launchpad drew a big crowd.

Launchpad is available for the PC and Mac computers and Playstation 2 on Amazon.com right now. Unfortunately, it’s a little pricey for what you get, which is a controller for only golf games. If you are obsessed with golf, then this might be a fun option to while away the winter days. If you are looking for serious exergaming, however, keep looking.

Last year, the Xavix booth was at the North Hall in the Las Vegas Convention Center. They took their place next to Epson Printers and Kodak Cameras. This year, finding Xavix was like following a treasure map. I showed up in the North Hall, expecting Xavix and their team of demonstrators to wow me with their newest technology, but they weren’t there.

That night, Mike looked them up on the CES website while I fretted, “I told all the readers on Starling Fitness that I would check out the Xavix booth and I didn’t even check to see if they were exhibiting.”

“No, they’re here. They’re in the Hilton,” Mike wrote down the booth number and I sighed a breath of relief.

Then next day, the entire team from The Gadgets Page (Matt, Christy, Mike and I) showed up at the Las Vegas Hilton on a quest to find Xavix. After looking at every booth on the Hilton floor, we were confused.

“What was the booth number for Xavix?” I asked Mike.

“1469.”

“Well that’s a totally different number than these booths.”

“Let’s talk to the information desk.”

The lady at the information desk was calm and clear, “1469, that’s a suite.”

She rattled off directions to the hotel elevators and the four of us followed the CES signs to the hotel elevators.

Matt, chimed in, “Did you ever see that episode of Battlestar Galactica where they go to the planet that’s like Las Vegas and there are big insect aliens in the basement?”

We shook our heads and I felt a little wary as we walked down the hotel room halls. There were many exhibitors who had suites, but their doors were open and they were waiting at the door.

When we arrived at room 1469, the door was closed. Sure, there was a sign on the door, but there was no friendly person inviting us in. I knocked on the door. We heard scrambling inside and they finally came to the door. “Do you have an appointment?” The four of us shook our heads and I recovered enough to try to explain.

“We write for Starling Fitness. We saw your booth last year and it was so cool, so we were looking for it this year. I didn’t know we needed an appointment…”

They recovered quickly and let us into the hotel suite.

They were exhibiting all of the Xavix games in their suite, but I had covered them in detail last year. The only new product that they had was the Xavix Lifestyle Manager. It was pretty cool. It can store almost two weeks of weigh-ins for four people, but the scale that hooks up to the Xavix machine is only half the story. It also provides a daily check-in for behaviors that you might be trying to adjust. It actually is very similar to the Starling Fitness Journal Pages, except it added other healthy behaviors like limiting alcohol and cigarettes (which I didn’t even think about).

Sadly, they were demonstrating the Lifestyle Manager projected on the wall, so none of the pictures of the screen shots turned out. The Lifestyle Manager is a cool product and if you already own a Xavix, it might be a good addition. Based on the fact that they were showcasing it in a nearly unattended hotel suite, however, I wouldn’t recommend anyone to invest in a Xavix console.

It was a shock for me to see this week’s PostSecret. This postcard was staring at me. I could have written it. I had talked about craving cupcakes for MONTHS and looking at recipes, pictures and such online. I didn’t write this postcard, but this could have been my secret a couple of weeks ago.

I made so many cupcakes for that New Year’s Eve party. It only took four to be sick of them. We gave away over a dozen to my husband’s family. Why did I torture myself for so many months?

PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it.

If you have been faithfully following a New Year’s Resolution, you’re probably craving something right now. Maybe it’s a craving for a lazy day without exercise. Maybe it’s a craving for your favorite food. Let’s talk about those cravings right now.

What are you craving?

Why aren’t you allowing yourself this?

Have you caved into your craving before? What happened?

What would happen if you did?

Is it possible to cave into your craving in a controlled manner so that it won’t disrupt your goals? How?

Whatever it is, your assignment for this week is to write a full page about it and then find a way to work it into your schedule. Whether it’s a day of rest or a certain food, there HAS to be a way for you to enjoy that food in a controlled setting. Those cravings are there for a reason. Maybe you’ve been working out too hard or your body is missing a certain nutrient. Maybe that food or activity represents comfort to you. Are you really prepared to live a life without comfort? No? Then let’s find a way to work it into your life AND still be dedicated to exercising and eating healthy.

Last week I wrote an entry about how when you want a cupcake, eating a fiber muffin just won’t do. I suggested mini-cupcakes:

• Starling Fitness » Mini Cupcakes

Of course, there is another option, but the thought is so hard for me to deal with that I didn’t even think of it when I wrote that entry. Eat only a quarter of a cupcake. Worse still, throw the rest AWAY!

This is one of the hardest things for me to do.

Maybe it’s because I was starved as a child and the thought of only eating a quarter of a cupcake when I could scarf down the whole thing just seems like sacrilege to that still starving child within me.

I have wanted a REAL cupcake every since the cupcake fad back in July. Seriously, I’ve wanted a cupcake for MONTHS without eating one. For New Year’s Eve, we made some using a recipe from the famous cupcake bakeries in New York. I had to see what I had been missing.

On New Year’s Eve, my sister did something shocking. She cut a cupcake into quarters and only ate a fourth of each flavor (we had three). I just watched her do it in disbelief. She didn’t really care for any of them, so the whole night, all she ate was less than one cupcake. I ate three, by the way…

So, when we were down to the cupcake leftovers, I tried it. I had eaten one cupcake a day for a few days, trying to keep my intake at a healthy level, but I was low on points that day. I had about 200 calories left. I remembered my sister cutting her cupcakes in quarters, so I tried it. I figured I’d eat a fourth and if I wanted more, I would eat a half.

Funny thing, is… it actually worked. After my quarter of a cupcake I felt just fine. I left the rest to eat later, but by the time I came back to it, it was stiff and stale. I took a picture of it and then threw it in the garbage can. Ironically, throwing it in the garbage was FAR harder than just eating a quarter of a cupcake.

The advertisement at the bottom of Prevention Magazine’s website said,

“Need motivation to lose those extra pounds? See how you’ll look with your new body!“

I imagined uploading a photo of myself and having a computer program show what I would look like at my goal weight. Unfortunately, it linked me to a computer generated model of what it thought I looked like based on my weight and height and then showed what that computer generated person would look like at their pre-determined goal weight. Sadly, neither picture was even close to looking like me.

Even worse, My Virtual Model has been brought to me by Prevention’s Sugar Solution, which is a diet book that blames sugar for everything from memory lapses to weight gain. When I clicked on the link, it redirected me to WalMart’s website and a picture of Velvet Chocolate Cake (?!).

Prevention magazine has been selling quick fixes for a long time with headlines that scream “Lose 10 pounds in 10 days!” but I have never seen them go this far. Maybe the Walmart link is broken and it was supposed to link to their book. Maybe the Virtual Model is supposed to be motivating instead of strangely insulting. Maybe Prevention magazine wants to help people, but sadly, this time they missed the mark.

If you made a New Year’s Resolution to exercise more, you’re probably to the point where you want to quit right now. That’s because you’re bored. You need a little motivation and support. There is no better way to start exercising than walking because it’s cheap and you already know how to do it.

Wendy Bumgardner at About.com has a 28-day walking course that will email you daily emails to get you from couch potato to walking demon. You can sign up for the email course here:

• Let’s Get Walking

If you are lacking motivation for the exercise regime that you set up for yourself, it’s not your fault. There might be a couple of things getting in your way:

• You are working out too hard.

• You are bored with what you chose.

• You have no one else to compare notes with.

• You injured yourself.

Whatever your reason, start with a simple program like Wendy’s Let’s Get Walking program. Ease yourself into exercise with a daily email to remind you of your goal. Don’t give up now, just switch things up!

Rob and Big is a reality television show on MTV. Rob is a professional skateboarder and Big is his bodyguard. A few episodes ago, Big decided to try to lose weight. I had never watched Rob and Big before I heard about this episode. I watched the whole thing on MTV’s website. You can see it here:

• Rob and Big | Episode Guide | Ep.4: Lets Get Physical | MTV

At the beginning of the episode, Rob is making fun of how big Big’s shirts are. He stuffs a big ball into one of the shirts and starts imitating Big. After a second or two of that, I just wanted to punch Rob in the face. Blissfully, Big did it for me, pushing him off the bed and onto the floor in one big swipe like a bear pushing away a baby cub. I instantly loved Rob and Big and had to watch the rest of the episode!

Big maxed out the scale they had at home, so Rob took him to Curves to be weighed. Unfortunately, Big maxed out their scale as well, meaning that he definitely weighed more than 400 pounds. That was a surprise even to Big. Rob says, “Extreme weight requires extreme measures,” and takes him to a recycling center to weigh him. He clocks in at 416 pounds. Rob takes him to a hypnotherapist, but Big just falls asleep. Fortunately, the dietician gives Big good advice:

“Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to reprogram you to stop eating when your stomach says it’s full. We’re not going to tell him what to eat or what not to eat. What I want you to do is get little Ziploc bags and take about a 1/2 a cup’s worth of whatever you’re choosing and prepackage them so they’re preportioned. When you’re done, you’re done. At the most, I want you to work out twice a week right now.”

When Rob objects to merely portion control and twice weekly workouts, she’s firm with him,

“I’m going to leave the skateboarding up to you and you leave the nutrition up to me.”

Big tried to leave the nutrition up to her, but Rob bugged him. He ended up working out a lot with Rob. Three weeks later, they returned to the recycling center and what did the scale read? 416.0 lbs. SAME WEIGHT… In desperation, Big goes back to see the nutritionist. She helps him through it,

“Chances are, you’re losing some fat and you’re losing some body weight. Just because it’s not showing up on the scale doesn’t mean that there aren’t changes happening. Continue with your exercise, continue listening to your body and no more scales. And, I want you to go have a burger this week.”

Anyone who has ever had a friend or family member try to “help” them lose weight will find a soft spot for Big and want to punch Rob in the mouth. Don’t listen to the Robs in your life who want you to go to diet boot camp. Listen to the dietician. Eat half of whatever you would normally eat and start working out no more than twice a week. Leave the skateboarding to the Robs in your life and take diet advice from the nutritionist.

Via: Rudd Sound Bites: Rob & Big

Every time we visit California, I try to convince Mike to go surfing or boogie boarding. How can we go to California and NOT surf? We’ve missed that opportunity every time mostly because the both of us are afraid of it. The ocean, undertow, big sea monsters that try to eat people are all things that I fear about surfing. Now, a recent study shows that surfing is about as dangerous as soccer.

• Study finds surfing safer than soccer

The researchers collected data from 32 surfing competitions in both the professional and amateur circuits. When compared to collegiate level basketball and soccer, surfing is actually safer. Here are the recommendations to prevent injury:

“To reduce the risk of injury while surfing, Nathanson suggests good physical fitness, seeking local knowledge before paddling out to an unfamiliar break, and being realistic in terms of your ability level and the size of the waves.”

Being physically fit is mentioned to prevent injury, so surfing might not be the best way to lose weight, but it sure is a great thing to enjoy once you are healthy and strong. Swimming all those laps at the gym can finally have more meaning than just helping you lose weight. It can get you to the point where you can be a California surfer dude!

Via: Surf’s up! surfing found to be safer than soccer – That’s Fit

Diet Blog has an interesting article about the word “diet.” Does it mean misery? Does it mean an eating regime? Does it mean restriction? Does it mean normal eating?

• Does Dieting = Misery?

For the longest time, going on a diet meant that I had new hope that I could finally be skinny. After years of smashed hopes, I decided that I was never going to diet again. I was going to “eat healthy.”

It’s amazing how those habits of the early years can become ingrained, however. I joined Weight Watchers because I could eat anything as long as I stayed within my Points. There were no food restrictions. After years of eating on the program, however, I started installing “forbidden” foods into my mind. It had nothing to do with Weight Watchers, I just decided that to be on program I needed to avoid certain foods. After a year or so of that, the words “eat healthy” became synonymous with “diet.”

Now, when I think, “I need to get back to eating healthy,” I feel deprived just like I did when I was dieting. Somehow, I broke that phrase in my mind.

What I need to do is eat whatever I want.

It might seem counter-intuitive, but giving myself permission to eat whatever I want without guilt helps me to eat healthier. It’s only when I put arbitrary limits on my diet that I end up bingeing.

Years ago, I buried the word “diet,” but it wasn’t the word that needed to be buried. It was the idea that there are certain foods that I can’t eat. When I started eating healthy, I was just limiting my portions of foods that I loved. It was later that “eating healthy” mutated into yet another way to make myself feel deprived.

I never need to feel deprived again. When will I learn that?